Take Two: Breaking down the loss at Syracuse- Pres. by MPF

The Result: Virginia rallied from 16-0 down to take a lead in the fourth quarter before ultimately coming up short, losing to Syracuse 22-20 at the JMA Wireless Dome. The loss dropped UVa to 2-2 on the season, 0-2 on the road, and 0-1 in ACC play.

The Turning Point: After UVa took a 20-19 lead, Virginia’s Hunter Stewart sacked the quarterback for what would’ve been a 6-yard loss on 3rd and 7. The Orange would have been punting from their own 35-yard line (unless they wanted to go for it on 4th and 13) and UVa would have had the ball back with a lead and about 3:30 to play. Instead, Stewart was called for grabbing Garrett Schrader’s facemask during the sack and the Orange picked up 15 yards and an automatic 1st down. That penalty moved them into UVa territory before they moved into field goal range on the next play. The penalty was certainly not Stewart’s fault and was more bad luck than anything as he was unable to see what he was grabbing as he impeded progress. But it’s hard not to look back on this play, despite everything else that happened, and wonder what might have been.

The Stat That Tells the Story: Virginia’s defense forced three turnovers inside Syracuse territory that the Cavalier offense scored zero points off of. The offense did capitalize on one special teams takeaway that gave them the ball at the Syracuse 13, but those other missed opportunities proved very costly.

Wahoo of the Week: There are several good candidates on defense, but we’re going with Jonas Sanker, who had 10 tackles, tied for best on the team, and forced a pair of turnovers, intercepting a pass and recovering a fumble.

Offense: Virginia still isn’t where it needs to be. The Hoos moved the ball well against ODU but had costly turnovers or couldn’t finish drives, and those issues still occurred on Friday night only with less ball movement. UVa finished the game with 287 total yards, 138 through the air and 149 on the ground. We mentioned the inability to turn takeaways into points and the Cavaliers actually had good field position throughout the night, with an average starting position at the Syracuse 37. UVa went 3-of-12 on 3rd down, and while they went 3-for-3 in the red zone with three touchdowns, the Hoos scored just 20 points despite starting four drives inside the Syracuse 40.

On a positive note, Perris Jones had a really nice second half and kept the chains moving when they needed a spark. He finished the game with 13 carries for 87 yards and a touchdown. Keytaon Thompson had another productive game, catching eight passes for 55 yards and scoring a rushing touchdown early in the second half. The offensive line had its issues, allowing four sacks, and we’ll see how many total pressures it allowed once the PFF grades are up. But the line did play better as the game wore on, and ultimately it felt like the guys up front did enough protecting to give the team a chance to win and did a nice job run blocking for Jones.

I also think it’s worth commending the offense for fighting back after halftime. They were far from perfect, but down 16-0, the offense came out and had a touchdown drive and then scored again off of a turnover. And the Cavaliers put together a 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter to take the lead.

And now we talk about the not-so-good. It’s not something I anticipated writing a few weeks ago when the season began, but Brennan Armstrong is really struggling, and that might be the biggest problem this offense has right now. The scheme is certainly still setting in and I want to make it clear that it’s on the coaches to put their players in a position to succeed and do what they do best. But Armstrong had another rough outing, and it looked like he left a lot on the table. UVa’s quarterback accounted for both of the team’s turnovers, fumbling when he ran into Lavel Davis in the first quarter on a scramble, and then throwing a very ill-advised interception that was thrown too late. Without having the luxury of an all-22 camera angle, it feels like Armstrong is locking onto receivers and not going through his progressions effectively, which is such a big part of this offense. That showed up on the 4th down play late when he threw to Davis in triple-coverage while Thompson was open for what probably is a 1st down. Perhaps he’s pressing a bit, and perhaps he’s uncomfortable in the system, but the fate of this offense seems to rest squarely on Armstrong’s shoulders with eight games to go.

The offense showed some fight in the second half and did some good things. But failing to reach 300 yards of offense or 150 yards passing with these players is simply not good enough against anybody. Everything still feels like a struggle right now, and perhaps it’s time to start thinking of this offense as a run-first team that compliments its defense and keeps the chains moving.

Grade: D

Defense: The defense wasn’t perfect either, but they played a great game in the Dome. Simply put, they gave the team a chance to win when the offense and special teams couldn’t do so themselves. UVa’s defense allowed a touchdown on Syracuse’s opening drive, one that began at the 41 after a long kick return. Syracuse scored with just over 12 minutes to go in the first, and never found the end zone again. Coming into the game, Syracuse had scored a touchdown on every single red-zone trip this season, something the Hoos turned around in a big way on Friday night.

UVa held Syracuse to 75 rushing yards, and gave Sean Tucker just 60 on 21 carries, and nothing longer than nine. Dynamic QB Garrett Schrader couldn’t get going on the ground either, outside of his touchdown on the opening drive. Syracuse went 6-for-16 on 3rd downs, and despite the fact that they reached the red zone five times, they scored just 22 points.

Virginia’s defense also did a great job creating negative plays against the Orange. The UVa defense forced three turnovers in the loss; Sanker accounted for Schrader’s first interception of the year, Kam Butler had a great strip of Tucker that was recovered by Sanker, and Chico Bennett recovered a fumble on a big swing play in the game, giving his offense the ball in Syracuse territory in the fourth quarter with a chance to take the lead. Virginia’s defense also forced eight tackles for loss and six sacks in the comeback effort.

That’s the first game that UVa has recorded more than five sacks since having six in the win over Virginia Tech in 2019, and obviously three of those came on back-to-back-to-back plays late. Bronco Mendenhall’s UVa defenses thrived on creating havoc, and fell off big time when they couldn’t. Virginia recorded just 18 sacks all of last season, so if Friday’s pressure performance is a sign of things to come for UVa’s front, their defense could end up being even better than the optimists hoped.

I think perhaps the most encouraging thing to me, besides the obvious improved play, is just the effort and excitement that we’re seeing from the players. After looking out of sorts for most of the last few seasons, defensive players are now flying to the ball, making clean tackles, getting after the quarterback and handling their assignments in coverage. A huge credit to the coaching staff, but the players also deserve credit for buying in and embracing the coaching they’ve received.

If there’s one area UVa’s defense can clean up from Friday’s loss, it’s penalties. The Hoos had seven penalties on defense for 76 yards, including a pass interference, a targeting call, and the aforementioned facemask on the final drive. Still, a very solid performance from a group that has improved dramatically from last season.

Grade: A

Special Teams: Special teams was a roller coaster on Friday night. UVa gave up a 60-yard kick return to open the game, leading to Syracuse’s only touchdown. Then, later in the game, the kick coverage unit did basically the exact opposite, with Jonathan Horton forcing a fumble recovered by Donovan Johnson at the Syracuse 13, which also set up a touchdown for the Hoos. There’s some work to be done here, but ultimately the kicker needs to do his best to create touchbacks whenever possible, too.

Speaking of kickers, a rough day at the offense for that group. Brendan Farrell was way off on his two first-quarter field-goal attempts, and was replaced by freshman Will Bettridge on place kicking duty. Bettridge would later have an extra point blocked, though Tony Elliott said that was the fault of the long snapper who didn’t snap it back quickly enough and pressure got through. Great job by Jared Rayman to fall on the blocked kick and not allow Syracuse to return it for two. Ultimately the difference between UVa’s kicking game and Syracuse’s attempts showed up on the scoreboard. Andre Szmyt made all five of his field goals in the win, though none was longer than 40. UVa went 0-2 and missed an extra point, subsequently losing by two points.

A couple of quick bright spots. First, punter Daniel Sparks did a nice job again, averaging 48 yards per punt with one 59 yarder and three punts that went inside the Syracuse 20. And finally, Demick Starling had some decent kick returns, averaging 25 yards per attempt with a long of 29 yards.

Special teams had some good moments, but ultimately the inability to make long field goals really slims the margin for error for this team.

Grade: C-

Coaching Staff: I’ll start with the positive. John Rudzinski and the defensive staff deserve a lot of credit for what they’ve done with this group. It would have been quite understandable if the defense took their lumps for a year or even two before turning the corner, but it seems that the group is ahead of schedule. The defense looks cohesive and seems to communicate well, and are rarely in the wrong spots. And while his group is far from perfect, I think Garett Tujague deserves some credit for where the offensive line was on Friday in relation to where they have been. The line needs to continue to show improvement and clean up the penalties, but they aren’t the reason UVa lost the game this week. It’s a work-in-progress, but the group appears to be making some strides forward.

And onto some areas of improvement. Elliott highlighted penalties in his postgame comments, and he’s right, the players can’t continue to beat themselves in that way. Both teams had 12 penalties, but if UVa had played a bit cleaner, perhaps the Hoos cash in on one more drive or swing the game somewhere and win the thing. That includes the illegal participation penalty after the first touchdown, when UVa had 12 in the huddle before a two-point attempt to potentially make the game 16-8. We have no idea how that play would have turned out, but if somehow UVa converted there and again on the next drive, it’s 16-16 instead of 16-13, and maybe the game plays out differently. The coaches need to find ways to instill discipline in the team, and hopefully avoid penalties that take the offense off schedule or keep the defense on the field.

The worst coaching decision of the game came early with the field goal tries. We’re not at practice every day, but nothing in Farrell’s time as the kicker has shown that he is going to make anything longer than 40 or so yards. Elliott had Farrell try a 50-yard kick on UVa’s first drive, when they were in a bit of no-mans land on 4th and 7 at the 33. Farrell missed that field goal quite badly, and then on the next drive, on a more makeable 4th and 4 from the 31, Elliott doubled down and Farrell missed again, this time from 48 yards. I understand that you want to give your players confidence and demonstrate trust, but UVa simply doesn’t have a kicker that should be trusted to make these right now. And in a game like this one, coaches have to know their team and decide when to be aggressive. This was a missed opportunity early, and ultimately it contributed to UVa falling further behind.

I also think it’s worth noting that the staff did make some halftime adjustments, and whatever they did kept the team motivated. Neither side of the ball quit, and the offense scored three second-half touchdowns and outscored the Orange 20-6. The defense continued to play well, and in some ways, it felt like UVa’s coaches, particularly on the defensive side, won the chess match for most of the game, and small mistakes here and there made up the difference.

The biggest area of focus going forward with an individual group has to be the passing game. The coaching staff needs to find a way to get Armstrong to do whatever it is that he needs to do to keep the ball moving. Maybe that means simplifying things or taking some pressure off of him with more runs, but what they’re doing right now through the air is just not working. We’ll see if the coaching staff can work with their quarterback to come up with a plan for improvement, because if the defense continues to play as they have, even a mediocre offense will give UVa a chance to win some games.

Grade: C

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